I think I have found what that strange symbol is - the one showing a white cloud with a sun above it, and raindrop below. It doesn't seem to be raining at the moment, and nor is it sunny, but there is a blinding area of cloud where the sun is behind it. Over to the west I can see some blue patches among the clouds. It would seem that most of today will be bright, but also it is going to rain quite frequently throughout the day. Some of it could be heavy rain. The temperature will reach 15° C again, but it will only be a brief peak near midday. 14° C is going to be more representative of today. After some rain that should end around sunrise, tomorrow could be dry and sunny. Sadly the temperature is unlikely to go above 14° C.

  All the best bits of yesterday were in the morning. The afternoon, and evening were quite bland. After writing in the morning, I started the rest of my day with a shower, and washing my hair. I think I may not have washed at all on Sunday, and if I recall correctly I only had a flannel wash last Saturday. So a good shower, plus washing my hair with hot water felt rather good. It was only when doing some washing up on Monday that I turned up the gas on the water heater to go from what was feeling increasingly tepid to slightly hot.

  Once I had dried my hair I put on my waterproof jacket, and headed out in very light rain to the pharmacy to order my next repeat prescription. I used to phone it in, but their phone never seemed to be answered on a Monday morning. Monday morning was the best time to order it because I can be fairly sure it will be ready to collect on Wednesday afternoon on my way back from the pub.

  After the pharmacy I wandered around the corner to get some shopping from Aldi. By pure coincidence I bumped into Angela just across the (side) road from Aldi. I felt a bit of tension, but that soon went. Angela was in a hurry to get back to work after nipping out to go to the bank, and so we didn't have a long conversation. It was quite a cordial conversation, and although Wednesday's were never mentioned, I had the feeling that it wouldn't be long before we have another Wednesday lunchtime pub meeting. I think tomorrow is a bit optimistic, but not completely impossible. I think tomorrow I will have to take a few snaps of walking in the park so she knows I have been there, but I am not going to mention I am going in advance.

  One thing I noticed when shopping in Aldi was how some common things were missing, and the stock on some shelves is a bit thin. The surprising thing was that they had run out of salted peanuts in the usual place, although among the Xmas food they did have big bags of peanuts. The soup selection was looking very thin. That could be because people are stocking up on cans of soup for cold weather, and when heating is going to be very expensive this winter.

  I managed to fill a small shopping trolley up, or at least there was enough in it to make it look full (in reality, if better packed, it was between a third and half full). I did my best to just buy essentials, but there were a few things I could not resist (but wish I had). For instance it was only curiosity that had me looking to see what oven chips they had. It soon dawned on me that many of the chips didn't explicitly say they were "oven chips", and yet on the back of the pack the cooking method was to cook them in an oven.

  I bought a small bag of very slightly healthier thick cut oven chips - slightly healthier because the still had the skins on them. It was useful to know that their smallest bag was half the size of Tesco's smallest. Possibly the only other bad temptation was a pack of about 6 (or 8 ?) small pre-cooked chicken drumsticks. The nutritional panel on the front did say they were very low sugar, but I am not totally sure I believe it.
  I haven't seen any inconsiderate dick heads outside Aldi for some time, but yesterday there was this complete lumphead parked so close to the fence that anyone in a wheelchair, or pushing a pram, would have to go all the way to the main road to get level access from the store, and then would have to walk back past the store if they were heading down my road. I contemplated just barging through, and probably knocking off his wing mirror, but I didn't think I could actually squeeze through the gap, and opted to walk across the rumble strip designed to turn ankles, and derail anything with small wheels (principally shopping trolleys, but prams and wheelchairs too).

  Despite carrying quite a weight of shopping, it was almost a pleasant walk back home. What I probably mean is that it was not hard to walk home. On the other hand, it was during a period when the rain had stopped, and it seemed to be trying to brighten up a bit. Of course it was still good to get home, and to unload my shopping. It was about 11:45am when I got in, and so it was not too early to start cooking some lunch.

  Lunch was about half the bag of oven chips I had just bought. They took about half an hour to cook, and ideally could have done with an extra 5 or 10 minutes longer for an extra bit of crunch. They tasted good, but after several lunches featuring oven chips from Tesco, the novelty is wearing off. Unfortunately I bought a large bag of oven chips the last time I was in Tesco (Saturday), and they are filling the remaining space in the freezer. I didn't have room for the rest of the Aldi chips, and so they are defrosting in the fridge. I will have to use them up for today's lunch !

  After eating my lunch I laid down to do some quiet reading. I really couldn't think of anything better to do, and all I did for the rest of the day was to read, from a book, or on the internet, and to watch a bit of TV until it was time for bed. It was a rather boring time, and it was no surprise that I barely made it to 2pm before I wanted to eat again. That is when I ate the pack of ready cooked chicken drumsticks. I have to confess that they were not very nice, and that was after giving them just enough time in the microwave to warm them up. They somehow seemed rather bland, and only a good sprinkle of salt perked them up - even if that was very unhealthy.

  I possibly spent the next few hours thinking I had eaten quite enough for the day. Somehow that thought must have burrowed in deep, and when it came to dinner time I found it strangely easy to decide that I would not eat any more yesterday. This morning I would have some reason to applaud that idea. It did feel rather odd that I didn't feel hungry for the rest of the day.

  Last night I know precisely when I put my book down, and turned out the light. It was at 9.30pm. What I don't know is when I finally fell asleep. It seemed to take ages, but time plays tricks in the dark of night. Once I was asleep I seemed to sleep well for about 2 hours. During that time I had an interesting dream that I thought was well worth recounting. The only trouble is that all the details have faded to nothing as I write this. I can't remember a single thing that might trigger a better memory.

  The rest of my night was not so good. I felt very hot when I tried to go back to sleep. Eventually I pushed some of the duvet aside, and did seem to be able to get back to sleep even while my hands were going numb in the cold. Meanwhile my lags seemed to be almost stuck together with sweat. The next time I woke up I felt really chilled, but some of that was because my pillow, and the top edge of the duvet was wet with cold sweat.

  I didn't sweat like that again, but I still found it hard to uncover just enough to not feel too hot. I remember very little about it, but I suspect I slept very badly until gone 4am. I think it was about 4.25am when I woke up for a pee, and turned the fan heater on low before I went back to sleep. The warmer the room got, even if many hours later it is still not more than tepid, the easier I slept. Last year, and most previous winters going back to 2013/2014*, I would just leave the heater on all night so it didn't matter if I kicked the duvet completely off. I can't afford to do that this winter.

* 2013/2014 the first winter after my quad heart bypass. For several months my chest was sore enough that I developed the habit of not wearing a top at home, and initially I couldn't even bear the weight of the duvet on my chest. It was probably the first winter, barring a few odd days in other really freezing winters, when I would leave the heater on all night so I didn't have to have the duvet pressing on my chest.

  Not having dinner after my earlier excesses paid off, although not as much as I hoped. Yesterday morning my blood glucose was down to a good 7.8mmol/l. This morning I was hoping it might be a lot lower, but it had only come down to 7.7mmol/l. I can't complain because that really is nice and low these days, but something like 6.9mmol/l would have been a real thrill.

  There are a few things I will definitely do today, but they don't add up to much. I will do some washing up, and then prepare tonight's dinner. It will be chicken with leek and mangetout as a sort of stew. I have meat in the fridge that I bought before the chicken, but chicken, and in particular that bought from Aldi, does tend to start going off rather quickly, and so I will be using it first.  Another definite is the rest of the Aldi oven chips for lunch.

  That is not much to do for the whole day. The last few hours have been bright, and almost sunny. It has got a bit dull in the last 15 minutes, and it is probably about to rain. It may just be a passing shower, and it may brighten up afterwards. If it does I may try and talk myself to go out for a walk - possibly just a short walk such as a wander around Poundstretcher, but if I can feel terribly more enthusiastic it could be further. It probably depends on the weather.